Wake Forest University
IUPUI
Women's Basketball Tames Jaguars, 73-60
12/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2002
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest had four players in double figures and used smothering defense to defeat IUPUI 73-60 Thursday night in Reynolds Gym on the campus of Wake Forest University. The Demon Deacons spread the Jaguars' zone defense with a barrage of three pointers and then sliced through the gaps with surgeon like precision for easy layups.
"It feels good to be 5-1," said Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis. "We know we've got to get better though. We're doing a lot of the things that we need to do to win, but we need to play better. I was very pleased with our on-ball defense tonight. Bianca (Brown), Cotelia (Bond-Young), Tonia (Brown) - our backcourt did a great job pressuring the ball. Our goal is to not let the other team run what they want to run. We're doing a good job scrambling on defense, but we're not recovering well enough. Teams are still shooting to good against us. (Tiffany) Keyser is a great player. She was first player we've faced this season that has challenged us one-on-one. We won this game without Eafton (Hill) playing real well and Tiffany (Listenbee) really stepped up."
The Jaguars' press defense caused problems for the Deacons early on, as IUPUI jumped out to an early lead, scoring on four Wake Forest turnovers to take the lead. Wake calmed down, got it inside for some easy buckets and then countered with a trapping press of its own.
Wake Forest took the lead at the 10:56 mark of the first half with an Erin Ferrell putback to go up 16-15 and then never looked back. The Deacs turned up their defensive pressure forcing IUPUI to heave several unsuccessful attempts as the shot clock expired. Ferrell finished with 12 points.
Tiffani Listenbee was a force inside for Wake, dropping in 14 points on six-of-seven shooting plus two free throws to go with seven rebounds. Tonia Brown also scored 14 points, canning three 3-pointers, grabbing five boards, dishing out five assists and hitting five of six free throws. Cotelia Bond-Young came off the bench to provide a spark again as the true freshman put up 13 points, all in the first half, including three 3-pointers.
The Deacons punished the undersized Jaguars on the offensive boards, winning the rebound battle 35-24 and scoring nine second chance points on the night. The teams descended the stairs to their locker rooms for intermission with IUPUI trailing by four.
Tiffany Kyser led IUPUI on both ends of the floor, scoring 23 and taking 3 steals. She led all scorers and concluded the performance by going 5-6 from the charity stripe.
Wake Forest improves to 5-1 with the win and IUPUI falls to 2-4 with the loss. The Demon Deacons break for final exams and the return to action on Sunday, Dec. 15 to host UAB at 1:00 p.m. in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
